News and Opinion

Britain leaving the European customs union to strike free trade deals with countries outside the EU is “giving up a three-course meal for the promise of a packet of crisps”, a top ex-civil servant has said. Sir Martin Donnelly, who left his role as permanent secretary to Liam Fox’s Department of International Trade last year, […]

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Kate Hoey, David Davis, Boris Johnson and that big red bus. Just some of the subjects covered by correspondents in this week’s mailbag. David Davis’ Vienna speech (it meant nothing to me) seemed to indicate that there would be no bonfire of regulations and standards after Brexit. Yet this is exactly where people […]

Bonnie Greer says its would be irresponsible to neglect the obvious message – your kids simply don’t want Brexit. What do Brexiteers and Trumpists have in common? Among quite a few things, one of them is the word ‘tyranny’ and the signs of tyranny. Brexiteer Ultras see the EU as, quite simply, a tyranny. To […]

Even by his own standards, the hypocrisy of Boris Johnson’s attack on Jeremy Corbyn’s motives is breathtaking. It was, as a piece of naked hypocrisy, so brazen one could almost stand back and simply admire the sheer chutzpah. Almost. Boris Johnson’s response to Jeremy Corbyn’s setpiece Brexit speech, delivered – inevitably – in the form […]

Politically active and opposed to Brexit, but marooned in a Labour Party which doesn’t reflect his views, MARTYN SLOMAN’s predicament is one familiar to many. He has some advice to those in a similar position. Something very odd has happened to our political process – or so it appears to a long-standing political activist of […]

Lord Adonis has welcomed Labour’s change of stance over Brexit believing it paves the way for a second referendum. Adonis said he thinks the position laid out in Jeremy Corbyn’s keynote speech, where he supported Britain staying in a customs union with the European Union, was a step in the right direction. Corbyn also used […]

Parliament has reasserted its strength in the EU debate, says STEPHEN DORRELL. Now MPs must exercise their power. The big political story of 2018 is that the government’s Brexit policy is unravelling and the primary reason is that parliament has taken control of the process. By passing Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill […]

Paul Connew takes a look at Donald Trump’s deranged Twitter feed and finds defiant denial, factual error and self-absorbed self-defence. If Special Counsel Robert Mueller needed insight into the troubled state of the President of the United States’ mind, the tale of Donald Trump’s demented tweets in response to his forensically-detailed 37-page indictment of 13 […]

MICHAEL WHITE on those ludicrous spy stories . . . and why Labour’s leader must come in from the cold over Brexit. The Rees-Mogg posse is circling Theresa May’s wagons with a threatening letter, but she is not the only one feeling the heat. Conscientious readers of the Sunday newspapers may have noticed that Jeremy […]

As if the prime minister doesn’t have enough problems already Labour has finally been roused on Brexit. Smelling blood from Number 10, Jeremy Corbyn has ramped up the pressure on the PM – but he still has a long way to go. Sir Keir Starmer’s finger prints were all over Corbyn’s speech and without his […]

Labour is finally up for the fight with the government over Brexit – take a bow Sir Keir Starmer. The shadow Brexit secretary is not an obvious Jeremy Corbyn fan – in fact her would have fitted better in the Labour Party of Tony Blair. But Corbyn knew he was a sharp mind – the […]

Like all great science fiction, the new Netflix series Altered Carbon is an exploration of the present, not the future, writes GAVIN MILLER. The hopes and dreams of the technological movement known as ‘transhumanism’ have been brought into the media spotlight thanks to Netflix’s new science fiction series, Altered Carbon (based on Richard Morgan’s 2001 […]

Labour will back Britain staying in a customs union with the European Union post Brexit. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer announced the significant shift which signals clear distance between the government and opposition on Brexit. He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: ‘Obviously it’s the only way of realistically to get tariff-free access, […]

In his latest stage review, TIM WALKER watches Girls and Boys at Royal Court Theatre, London. Girls and Boys Royal Court Theatre, London, until March 17 FOUR STARS It’s rather an annoying thing watching a play you’ve decided isn’t any good – and, in my case, have a rather nasty two-star review already composed in […]

There seems to be something sinister about the BBC’s attitude to Brexit. Using his little grey cells, ANDREW ADONIS decides to investigate. It was a dead body which first alerted me to the crime. Last Wednesday evening I was glancing at the day’s news on the BBC website when this headline caught my attention: ‘UK […]

Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit keynote could change everything – but he needs to be bold. Don’t expect him to call for a second referendum though – he made it quite clear when The New European interviewed him this week that the party still backs the result of June 24, 2016. But he can sense an opportunity […]

Henry Bolton has admitted he lied about splitting up with Jo Marney after her racist message scandal. Jo Marney – Credit: Archant When asked by Nick Ferrari on LBC ‘were you ever not together?’ a laughing Bolton said: ‘No. I think I was playing on words a little bit. I said I’d put personal issues […]

Tony Blair has slammed the government for still being in ‘cake and eat it mode’ over Brexit. The former prime minister said Theresa May’s top team are yet to face the binary choice facing them over Brexit. Blair said the reality is that Britain will have to follow Brussels’ rules if it wants a close […]

Jeremy Hunt has revealed Britain will quit the customs union putting the government on a collision course with Tory Brexit rebels. The health secretary said the cabinet has agreed to pursue a Brexit policy which will put Britain outside a customs union with the European Union but would match Brussels rules in certain sectors in […]

‘Divergence won the day’ screamed the Brexiteers after the war cabinet ended its marathon meeting. But isn’t this just more fudging from a Prime Minister who is increasingly resembling a clown spinning plates? Sooner or later one is going to smash. The nonsense soundbite that came from the meeting was ‘ambitious managed divergence’ – the […]

The New European podcast is live – and it has a stellar cast. This week Richard Porritt speaks to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – but does he finally clear up his party’s true Brexit position or just offer yet more fudge? Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb is also in the studio attacking both the government […]

In this week’s diary column, Farage’s wealth remains a mystery and the BBC finally acknowledges The New European. One question Nigel Farage could usefully be asked when he makes his 32nd appearance on Question Time this week is how much money he is actually trousering each year. The accounts that the former UKIP leader, pictured, […]

DICK TAVERNE was deselected as an MP over his pro-Europe views in the 1970s. He has some advice to those on both sides of the House now facing similar threats. Deselection of MPs because their views clash with those of their local or national party has been a rare event in British politics. But there […]

The New European’s Editor-at Large, Alastair Campbell, on why he feels European and why you should too. ‘If you love Europe so much why don’t you just f**k off and live there?’ It has become the Brextremist social media jibe of choice. It has yet to replace ‘war criminal,’ or ‘Blairite scum’ in my own […]

MITCH BENN has taken the words of David Davis to heart and is now ready for dystopia. Like, I imagine, a lot of you, I’ve been spending this week stocking up on crossbow bolts, carefully removing one sleeve from my old black leather bike jacket, and fitting my Toyota Aygo’s engine with an illegal nitrous […]

Jeremy Corbyn does not appear to agree with this week’s New European front page. Presented with a copy during an interview with this paper he brushed it aside saying: ‘Labour is the party that looks after everybody, we will invest in young people for the future.’ The front page suggests time is running out for […]

Readers respond to Andrew Adonis’ call for a referendum on Europe – exclusively for members of the Labour Party. The article by Andrew Adonis last week stated that there are 600,000 Labour members. Well, as of Saturday, there are now at least 600,001. That was the day I joined the Labour Party for the first […]

David Davis sought to calm business jitters with Brexit looming this week but, as ANGELA JAMESON explains, fears persist. So leaving the EU is not going to plunge the UK into some sort of Mad Max-style dystopia. Leaving aside the questionable film reference, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union was not particularly […]

Remaining in the single market would leave many voters feeling the referendum result had been ignored, Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said today. Dismissing polls which have shown that an overwhelming majority of Labour members and supporters support Britain remaining in the customs union and single market after leaving the EU, Mr McDonnell insisted wider […]

The Iran nuclear deal is hanging by a thread, says former diplomat PAUL KNOTT​, who worked on the agreement. If it fails, the world becomes a much more dangerous place. The Iran nuclear deal of 2015 has been a success. Its sole purpose was to stop the country’s development of nuclear weapons, and that is […]

Steve Anglesey names the worst Brexiteers of the week MALCOLM PARKER Tweeting under the handle @mbiranek, this lesser-known Brexiteer declared: ‘We want our sovereignty back from the unelected EU baccarats.’ Readers of a certain age will be unable to stop themselves singing ‘Yes sir, I can Brexit, but I need a certain song…’ THERESA MAY […]

Progressives expect great things from Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau. But can the telegenic leaders actually deliver, asks PAUL KNOTT Handsome, charismatic, liberal and francophone. French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could be caricatures of a New European reader’s dream political leader. Critics with different perspectives have dismissed the duo as […]